Pelagosaurus
Name: Pelagosaurus
(Pelagic lizard).
Phonetic: Pel-ah-jik-sor-us.
Named By: H. G. Bronn - 1841.
Synonyms: Mosellaesaurus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Archosauromorpha, Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia, Teleosauridae.
Species: P. typus (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Up to about 3 meters long.
Known locations: France. England - Alum Shale
Formation, Beacon Limstone Formation. Germany - Posidonia Shale
Formation. Italy - Calcare di Sogno Formation.
Time period: Toarcian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Several individuals in
varying states of completeness. At least one juvenile is known.
Osteoderms are also known.
Pelagosaurus
is a genus of thalattosuchian, more colloquially known as a ‘marine
crocodile’ that lived in the waters around Western Europe during the
early Jurassic. Exactly what kind of thalattosuchian Pelagosaurus
is
depends upon who you ask, with one group describing the genus as a
primitive metriorhynchid, while others state that it is actually a
teleosaurid, and this is the opinion that most modern studies go
along.
Leaving
behind the precise classification of this genus, Pelagosaurus
was a
fairly fast swimming predator of fish, and this is confirmed by the
presence of fish fossils, including the genus Leptolepis within the
fossils of some individual Pelagosaurus. Also,
while Pelagosaurus
had at least some osteoderms, the number and size were greatly
reduced when compared to terrestrial (land) crocodiles, showing a
development towards faster and more agile swimming over armour.
Pelagosaurus
means ‘pelagic lizard'. For those not familiar with the word
pelagic, it is basically used to describe an animal that lives in the
open sea. However, because Pelagosaurus was a
marine crocodile,
it would have still needed to return to the land to lay eggs.
Further reading
- �ber die fossilen Gaviale der Lias-Formation und der Oolithe. -
Archiv f�r Naturgeschichte, Berlin 8:77–82. - H. G.
Bronn - 1841.
- Pelagosaurus (Mesosuchia, Crocodilia)
from the English
Toarcian (Lower Jurassic). - Neues Jahrbuch f�r Geologie und
Pal�ontologie, Monatshefte 1979:475–485. - C. J. Duffin
- 1979.
- Position syst�matique et phylog�netique du genre Pelagosaurus
Bronn, 1841 (Crocodylia, Mesosuchia), du Toarcian d’Europe.
- Geobios 13:783–786. - E. Buffetaut - 1980.
- Pelagosaurus typus Bronn, 1841
(Mesoeucrocodylia:
Thalattosuchia) from the Upper Lias (Toarcian, Lower Jurassic)
of Somerset, England. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26
(3): 621–635. - S. E. Pierce, M. J. Benton -
2006.
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